Enos Lovatt (1937 - 2018)
Enos Lovatt British abstract artist was born in 1937 on the outskirts of the Potteries and spent most of his formative years first in Gillow Heath and latterly, until his marriage in 1971, at Mow Cop. His parents had a small holding on Mow Lane where they brought up their five children. Enos Snr had been a miner and after an accident worked in a factory and at his small holding. His wife Gladys had studied art before her marriage and, along with her husband, was very encouraging and nurturing of the creativity of the children.
Much of the subject matter of Enos’ early work, before he went to the Royal College of Art in 1959, was informed by his surroundings and in particular his family. He created hundreds of images of himself, his father, his mother and his siblings.
Before attending the Royal College of Art, Enos attended Portland House in Burslem and then studied for his NDD at Stoke on Trent College of Art (Burslem College of Art) from 1950-54. He then did his National Service as a trainee medic and was based in Scotland, mainly Glasgow, where he sometimes attended classes at the Glasgow School of Art.
Enos found his years studying in London a struggle as he did not feel he fitted into the ethos of the institution. His lecturers at the RCA included Mary Fedden, Carel Weight, Ruskin Spear, Ceri Richards, Roger de Grey, Colin Hayes and Sandra Blow, he also studied alongside artists; David Hockney, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Frank Bowling, Patrick Caufield, and R.B Kitaj On leaving the Royal College in (1959-1962), Enos took on the role of part-time lecturer at the Burslem School of Art until 1968 and latterly was a full-time lecturer in painting, fine at North Staffordshire Polytechnic from 1970 until his retirement in 1992.
Apart from his years of National Service and at the Royal College, Enos continued to live with his parents into his early thirties continuing to use the large shed that had been erected for him many years before as his studio.
From 1972 Enos lived in Wolstanton with his wife and daughter and until his daughter left home for university used the entire ground floor of their house as a studio, although for many years he did return to work at Mow Cop when he could.
Enos exhibited sporadically through the years and had one man shows at various places including the Burslem College of Art, Keele University, Woodstock Gallery, and the Paton Gallery in London, Stafford Museum and Art Gallery and the Stoke-on-Trent Museum and Art Gallery. However, throughout his career whilst he always wanted to share his work he was often reluctant to part with it.
In the Sentinel, March 5th 1957, Enos said in a story ‘Three Pass for Royal College of Art’
“When I have finished at the Royal College, I want to come back and paint in and around the countryside where I live.”
His heart was and still remains tied inextricably to Mow Cop and the Potteries where he spent most of his life.
Janine Partington
15 September 2016
Barewall thanks Janine Partington Enos Lovatt's daughter for writing this in 2016 profile on behalf of Enos. In Dec 2018, sadly Enos Lovatt passed away.
If you would like to learn more about Enos Lovatt we encourage you to look at Janine Partington's instagram feed where images of her father's work are being regularly posted and described:
